he got playing time in NO and he still was not very good, he got PT in houston but if they arent good enough when they do play then why keep playing him...in hopes he becomes good? again. you assume that you have to play in a game to develop...just not true. there are many variables to a player coming into his own and playing time is only small part of that. but again, good for boki... 5 years in the league and he's finally shown that he can come off the bench and shoot.
Hmm I don't know the FG and 3pt % are very similar to t-macs and abviously Boki is Money at the FT line unlike T-mac... Now what would happen if Boki had 15 more min?
Some players take a while, and respond to different types of coaching. I firmly believe that Boki was on his way to being this type of player in Houston before his run in with JVG. He was shooting like 44% from 3pt range when he was unceremoniously dumped for an over the hill Wesley. That Rockets team was not going anywhere, and the fact that the team keeps chucking young players for old is the one area that JVG and CD are failing at miserably. You can't get the Robert Horry and Sam Cassells if you constantly trade players away for oldsters. Good teams usually have a mix of old and new.......hopefully the new GM and Coach will see this. DD
My point is that he has improved but not to the point as some of these posters are saying. Have you watched him play against the Cavs? He still gets ABUSED by the guards and fowards of the Cavs, and there are times when ERIC FREAKING SNOW abuses him. Can you imagine him guarding the likes of Matt Harping or even Giricek? He has come along long way, but there are still huge holes in his game after FIVE years in the league. For someone who is 6-7 or 6-8 to be posted up by Eric Snow is just flat out embarrassing.
It is all about leverage......That is why Carloss Boozer can post up Yao. Same thing with Snow and Boki.....one's butt is lower than the others. DD
In the playoffs we beat the team that swept us the previous year, making it to the WCF only to loose to Utah 4-2.
Maybe we didn't win another championship with Barkley, but I'll take that 96-97 team over the 95-96 one any day of the week. Horry and Cassell, key as they were and good as they've been since, were coasting and looking awfully immature following the two championships. I'll never forget watching those two laughing it up on the bench during a loss in early 96. We were a team that was insufferably satisfied with itself and had absolutely no hunger or desire. We NEEDED a Barkley. We needed that trade to happen sooner. Year after the second championship, we get bounced in the second round. Year 1 with Barkley, we come two games from the finals. That was a great team that tripped itself up, getting a little too cocky after sweeping the puppies and being up on the Sonics. Still: Dream, Barkley, Drexler, Elie, Willis, Mack, Maloney, Price, Othella, E-Davis, Chuck Jones, Bullard.....that was the last truly elite team we've run out onto the court in a decade. Look me in the eye and tell me that squad wouldn't woop the living hell out of the current one on any given day. Sometimes you have to gamble. The original champion team wasn't going to repeat. They rolled the dice on a big trade and got the second set of rings. That team then came back without the desire and got swept without a fight in the second round. Don't try and tell me that moving Horry cost us. He wasn't heard from again (except for towelling Ainge) until the Lakers won the title 5 years later. With us, he averaged 32 mpg; after the trade he never once averaged as many minutes in a season again. Phoenix threw Sam away after 22 games. Dallas threw him away after only 16. He lasted a season and a quarter with the Nets (102) before finally having a revival in Mil. Wanna know why he bounced around so much? Because Sam let the two rings go to his head and was acting like an immature little punk. It took getting bounced all over the place for him to realize he had to be a leader instead of just mouthing off about being one. Horry & Cassell were not about to lead us back to the finals. I love them for what they did for us in 93-95, but they weren't about winning in Houston after that. They needed to grow up, and Barkley was out there begging for a shot at a ring. Maybe it didn't work, and Barkley-Drexler was a bad locker room combo that combusted. But it was the right move. What was the topic again? Oh! Boki! 11 and 3 against Toronto's Euro-style frontcourt, and 6.5 and 2.4 against the Cavs Varejo-Gooden tandem. He can't rebound and can't defend. He's a fun piece of a run & gun system, but the only reason he gets minutes is because the Nets have a desperately thin frontline. When Mikki Moore is a crucial crunchtime player for your team, just about anyone over 6-7 can get burn. I like Nachbar, but his game's just too limited for him to a main guy. He'd still be a bench guy on our team. I know I wouldn't take minutes away from Hayes for him. Evan
Guys, I actually agreed with the trade....I was trying to be a little sarcastic.... I concede the point that trading Horry and Cassel was vital to trying to get another championship. DD
Yeh, but Boki isn't very clutch. I mean hasn't he choked two would-be game winners already? You know somebody chokes rather than simply "miss" when the shot they take is nowhere near going into the basket clanks at the side of the rim.
He rimmed out the one shot in the first round against Toronto...... Come on back Boki..........JVG is gone now.......come on down !! DD
nah, side of the rim at 00:36 <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k7kXhjAVOkM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k7kXhjAVOkM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
whether u like him or bash him, fact is boki's playing much better now than before... he'd definitely be a good spark plug off the bench for many teams, including the rockets. Anybody gonna tell me they'd rather have novak than boki? To take it further, is Head better than boki?
LOL. Since when did Boozer POST UP Yao? This comment just shows your bias/love for Boki and hate for JVG. Boozer scored on Yao by standing outside shooting midrange jumpers or by driving past him. Never in the series did Boozer back Yao up. Your comment is just laughable and your true colors just showed. We are also talking about ERIC SNOW here, you really think he should even be mentioned in the same breath as Boozer offensively? LOLOL
